Trump team under fire for gamifying war

On Thursday, less than a week after an airstrike killed dozens of children in an Iranian elementary school—and a day after the Pentagon named two of the six American soldiers killed by a drone—the White House posted a video on X blending real-world bombing footage with clips from action movies and video games, according to The Washington Post.

Titled "JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY," the video included memes and jokes from 'Top 'Gun', 'Halo', and 'Dragon Ball Z' and was widely promoted by top officials in President Donald Trump's administration. White House deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr reposted it with the caption, "Wake up, Daddy's Home."

The video is part of an unprecedented White House digital operation that turns the Iran war effort into a meme campaign, mixing unclassified missile footage from US Central Command with the kinds of fictional and fantasy content young people share online for laughs.

On Thursday, the White House also posted a video overlaying airstrike footage with the lyrics "Kaboom, kablow" from the viral rap song 'Bazooka', and another mixing missile detonations with 'SpongeBob SquarePants' clips. On Friday, the White House published another video referencing 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas', flashing the message "WASTED"—what players see in the game when their character dies—over missile footage showing trucks and people engulfed in flames.

The videos draw from a wide range of media franchises, and it remains unclear whether the White House sought permission to use the material. Ben Stiller, whose movie 'Tropic Thunder' was featured in the JUSTICE video, said in an X post that the clip should be removed. "We never gave you permission … War is not a movie."

White House communications director Steven Cheung adopted the slang of a video game streamer on X when he shared a video interweaving real strikes with a kill-streak video from 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3'.

Some Trump supporters have defended the digital approach as a way to build attention and support for US military action while showcasing the nation's war-fighting power. "The legacy media wants us to apologise for highlighting the United States Military's incredible success, but the White House will continue showcasing the many examples of Iran's ballistic missiles, production facilities, and dreams of owning a nuclear weapon being destroyed in real time," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.

Roger Stahl, a University of Georgia professor who studies war and media, said the administration may hope the provocative videos will rally Trump's political base and obscure the human costs of a war led by the most powerful military on the planet, in which the lives of many soldiers and civilians remain at risk.

Some veterans have argued the strategy could backfire by trivialising the life-and-death toll of a foreign war. Connor Crehan, an Army veteran of the Iraq War who co-hosts the Barstool Sports military podcast 'Bold American', said in an X post: "The consequences of war are final. I wish we didn't treat it with such a cavalier approach."

The White House's meme campaign contrasts with that of Central Command, the Tampa-based arm of the Defense Department that oversees Middle East operations, which has posted mostly raw footage captured by thermal cameras aboard drones and gunships.

The White House media team had devoted much of its recent energy to derisive videos about mass deportation, but the Iran airstrikes have provided a new wealth of content.

In "JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY," strike footage was woven together with a wide array of media franchises especially popular among men and boys, including superheroes Iron Man and Superman; the action films Gladiator, Transformers, John Wick, and Star Wars; and the anime Dragon Ball Z.